In response to the controversy surrounding the Wally Awards last year, UP Athletics is making changes to its spring awards ceremony programming, including rebranding the Wallys and replacing the spring talent show with a community service day.

In the weeks since the Wallys there have been many opinions written about what happened. Many people have been angry. Many have called for action. Most are upset with how things were handled. Some however, have looked at it from a different angle. They’ve questioned why more students in attendance didn’t take action. Some have encouraged us all to take action in situations like this and not just rely on people in power like University of Portland President Fr. Mark Poorman and other members of the University of Portland administration to step in. Some people have even praised UP for the steps they took later and said it was enough.

Reflecting has been an exercise I’ve found myself doing quite frequently these past few weeks, as I’ve followed the articles and opinion pieces in response to the Wally Awards event on campus. After everything that’s been said, I still support Fr. Poorman, the administration, the staff, the students and the University of Portland.

What happened at the Wallys was a complete shock for most of our campus community. Many people are angry, and rightfully so! I have great hope for the dialogues happening on campus in the wake of this incident. It is an important part of the healing process and a fundamental step in moving forward to better things. In these discussions, we find us asking ourselves: “Did this really happen? Why would anyone say something like this? How do we prevent this from happening again?” While these questions are important, I believe that the most important question that we can ask ourselves is this: “What is the root of this whole problem?”

As a female immigrant I find Mr Sundaram's apology weak & lacking insight! He humiliates all immigrants and females by trying to rationalize his remarks and not acknowledging that he has missed the essence of his Catholic education! Why didn’t the administrators stop him, didn’t he have his speech read in advance ? Taking him off the tennis team isn’t enough! He shouldn’t walk with his class or graduate! He hasn’t learned respect and common decency! If he thinks this is “funny” he hasn’t benefited from the hours of teaching invested in him, this is a serious character flaw!
My daughter is currently an accepted student for the fall semester, but I have encouraged her to take this incident into serious consideration.

The Wally Awards controversy continues to spark discussion about not just the event itself, but larger issues of misogyny, rape culture and sexism. Some of the more intimate conversations are taking place in residence life communities across the University of Portland campus, some of which have organized events to bring residents together to share feelings about the incident and discuss how to move forward.

We write in response to the Wally awards incident, as reported by student-athlete and Beacon reporter Olivia Sanchez. As faculty members who believe in the stated mission of the university to teach the heart and the hands as well as the mind, we are in complete solidarity with the students who are appalled and outraged by the inflammatory rhetoric used by the event’s emcee.

I would first like to thank Olivia Sanchez for telling her story in her opinion publication. It was very brave, and it encourages people to let their voices be heard when they feel unsafe or injustice happens. I want to acknowledge that Goutham's Sundaram's "inappropriate" words "cannot be defended," as he has stated in his apology. Sanchez's voice is an important one and there are many other voices to consider, such as my own.

Members of the University of Portland community nearly filled Buckley Center Auditorium on Thursday night for the event "Reaffirming Pilot Values: Assessing Rape Culture, Sexism, and Misogyny." The student-led event, hosted by Students Against Sexual Assault (SASA), Service and Justice coordinators (SJCs) and the Feminist Discussion Group, was announced Wednesday morning in response to the controversial speech made at the fifth annual Wally Awards Sunday night.